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Pokémon Center megastores give you 3 cool birthday bonuses if you shop during your birthday month

Casey Baseel Jul 16, 2023
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Three reasons to treat yourself to some Pokémon presents for your birthday.

As we get older, birthdays can start to lose their luster. Sure, as a kid there’s the thrill of being fed cake, given presents, and granted new privileges for growing up, but once you are a full-grown adult, birthdays can start to feel like just another day.

But we recently stumbled on a way to recapture some of that fun and excitement: a bundle of birthday gifts from Pikachu and the Pokémon Center!

In addition to being a location within the games and anime, “Pokémon Center” is the name of the branch of official Pokémon merch megastores in Japan, as well as their online shop. If you’re a fan, there’s never a bad time to do some Pokémon Center shopping, but an especially good time is around your birthday, since making a purchase then will get you three different presents as part of the chain’s Wakuwaku Birthday service.

The first present is the special birthday box your order will ship in, with Pikachu and Flabébé presenting you with a slice of birthday cake. Open up the box, and you’ll see a “Happy Birthday!” message waiting for you on its inner flap.

▼ This is one box we’re definitely hanging on to!

Inside the box, you’ll find two special extras in addition to the items you ordered.

Flowers are a popular birthday gift in Japan, even among non-romantic acquaintances, so part of the Wakuwak Birthday bundle is a Pikachu Flower Bouquet Card.

While it’s plenty adorable as-is, the cuteness gets kicked into overdrive if you point your smartphone’s camera at it, because it’s actually an AR card that plays an instrumental version of Happy Birthday to You while Pikachu dances and sings along (you can see it for yourself here, if you don’t mind getting spoiled)!

The other extra inside the birthday box is a download code for use in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for the Nintendo Switch. Entering the code gets you a in-game Flabébé. Though the Fairy-type flower-like Pokémon isn’t especially rare or powerful, the birthday-present Flabébé joins your roster knowing Celebrate, a skill the species can’t ordinarily learn, making it truly unique.

▼ Claiming our celebratory Celebrate-knowing Flabébé

All of the Wakuwaku Birthday presents are free extras available once a year when making a Pokémon Center purchase any time during the month of your birthday (for example, if your birthday is in July, you’re eligible for the presents as long as you make a purchase between July 1 and 31). In-store shoppers can simply show an I.D. with your date of birth at the register to get the Pikachu Flower Bouquet Card and Flabébé code. For online shoppers, you’ll need to create a Pokémon Center online account here and register your birthdate, which is a bit of a hassle, but worth it since it’s the only way to get that awesome birthday shipping box.

Related: Pokémon Center Online, Wakuwaku Birthday website
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[ Read in Japanese ]